2011 Resolution for pastors and church leaders: Turn your church inside out for the sake of the kingdom, for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of the mission of Jesus… for the sake of your congregation.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxfLK_sd68]
“But what about you?” He asked, “Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:15
The first followers of Jesus encountered Him in a profound and life-changing way. But with successive generations, it’s possible for this encounter to fade like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy. What begins as a revolutionary, life-altering encounter with Jesus, eventually subsides into a codified religion and is then incorporated into normal social life. The “YOU say” is contextual. Each new generation, every culture is given a “you say”. And if we get our “you say” wrong, we get everything wrong. It was W. A. Tozer who said, “What comes into our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us.” I would say that what comes into your mind when you think of Christ is the most important thing about you.
Jesus did not come to be the Founder of a religion. Rightly understood, Christianity is decidedly anti-religion. Through His life, death, and resurrection Jesus ushered in a whole new way to experience the God of Israel- which later became known as Christianity. Christianity is not a religion but a relationship. In fact, Jesus eliminated the need for religion. But for most Christians, Jesus is simply part of the American life and not the guiding, defining center. A vibrant, ongoing, and exciting relationship with Christ is reduced to just going to church. We receive Christ as Savior of our sins but not Lord of our lives. And this is what I want us to talk about today. After all is said and done, and after all the opinions of Jesus are offered…He remains the Risen Lord!
What is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more, nothing less. In his book, “Jesus Manifesto”, Leonard Sweet has noted, “Christianity is not a religion, it is not an ideology, or a philosophy. Neither is it a new type of morality, social ethic, or worldview. “ Christianity is the “Good News” that life, beauty, redemption, and all that is good and right, and made right is found in a Person, whose name is Jesus. And true humanity and community are founded in and experienced by connection to that Person. I’ve heard people say they want go deeper and move on to other things. Deeper? What “other things”? Other things beyond Christ? Is there anything deeper than Christ? If you think you can move on beyond Christ, you’ve never really encounter Him.
In Colossians 1:15-23, Paul sets forth one of the greatest revelations of Christ in all of Scripture. He says Christ is supreme in creation, He is supreme in authority, and He is supreme in redemption. All things were created by Him and for Him, including you. You’ll finally discover ultimate freedom and joy if you’ll allow Him to be supreme in every area of your life.
We’ve decided to “paint the town”. At FBC McKinney we’re discovering much about how God moves to transform a city. As God’s people we must first realize that His plan is for the whole Church to take the whole Gospel to the whole world. We must start where we are. Does a church exist unto itself? An externally-focused church will bring it’s time, talents, and resources to the mission of God in the world. A church that determines to impact it’s local community will ask a series of questions in order to the discover God’s specific mission for that unique body of believers. How are we uniquely gifted? What has God called us to do in our unique Jerusalem? How should our specific resources (of people, talents, passions, experiences, etc.) be used by God in our community? How does Christ want to transform our culture through us? How can the people of God join Him in the transformation of our city?
God is calling us to bring the Gospel into every domain of culture (education, government, recreation, media, public safety, medical, business, etc…). Recently I challenged our people to determine their primary mission field. It is there that God is calling them to live out the “Jesus life”. We placed four different canvases and paint around our campus, each representing different domains of culture (wherever we may find ourselves primarily). Each person was given a brush and encouraged to paint his/her name on the canvas as a commitment to “paint the town” with God’s love. In so doing we’ve decided to paint the kingdom- a better story for our city. The canvases together form a giant display of our mission: Christ and His love shining brightly through each of us in our specific areas of passion and influence. We’ve learned that God has blessed us to be a blessing to others. We desire to love God so passionately others that are blessed and to love others so passionately that God is blessed. We’re learning that when we decide to show up (incarnationally- “in the flesh”) and simply serve others, Jesus shows up. They see Him in us. We have experienced, what we believe, are transferable principles as we have impacted the domain of education in our city. Through 3e McKinney we have adopted the Title 1 schools in McKinney. We have hundreds of our people investing in others at Finch Elementary School where we have simply shown up to serve them. We know that God loves every child (and family represented) at Finch, so we do too. As a result we are partnering with God in what He’s already doing there. It has been amazing. Now we’re asking some bigger questions: How does God want us to show up and bless other people in every domain of our culture? THAT’S how Christ transforms a city (a state, a nation, a world)- through His people who simply decide to show up and serve. Join us in the transformation of our world by serving someone- intentionally in the name of Jesus- today.
“…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
This past weekend our church family (FBC McKinney) decided not to come to worship services but to worship through service. We had 1,600 volunteers serve the Lord by serving our community through our “Go and Be” initiatives.
Why such an effort? Because we’ve decided to take Jesus’ words, “love your neighbor as yourself” seriously (Matthew 22:39). He said we love God when we love others. He said, “If you love me you will obey my commands” (John 14:21). He said that others will know we love Him by our love for them (John 13:35).
A large church of spectator Christians tends to produce more of the same. We have enough of those churches. It’s important to “come and see” what God is doing “at church”. But the Church for which Jesus died is actually on the move out in the world as His followers “go and be” the Church 24/7. Taking one Sunday away from our gathering continues to hold high the value or serving our community as Jesus has called us to. We have been blessed to be a blessing.
Watch this video: Go and Be video/results
Call me crazy but I am certain that when Christ was dying on the cross He was not thinking, “Now my followers will be able to go to church on Sundays until I return.” I believe His vision was one of a people radically transformed by His love and, in response to His love, loving others in the same way He did. I say this because this is exactly what He taught.
The Church Jesus envisioned was one transforming every aspect of culture, one person at a time. By “the Church” I mean His people (not a building or even a gathering) but His followers scattered across every aspect of culture. Christ alone will transform our culture and He will do it through His followers. How does this happen?
When we speak of culture we are talking about multiple domains among a people. In America it might be shown like this graphic on the left (there are clearly other ways to break down the different domains but these are the main divisions). Often we think that the Church (or even our faith) is one domain among many and if we could just get people IN church we will impact our culture for Christ. Increasingly, however, people are not going to church and therefore many conclude that our impact in culture is waning. However, when we explore the early Church we see that “success” was never measured by how many were “coming to church”. Their measure of “success” was simply dying to self, living for Jesus, and loving Him so passionately others were blessed. I believe that God is bringing about an awakening among His people and I see a reformation of global proportions taking place. This reformation is not about something “new” but about something very old. It is a rediscovery of the Church, not simply gathered, but scattered. Gathering is critical to the life and health of Christ’s followers but it is the church scattered that transforms a culture.
A better depiction of the Church is one scattered across the many domains of culture. As Christ’s followers recognize themselves as a sent people, sharing His love with others (by serving and sharing the Gospel), we will see the culture revolutionized by His love. When a culture is transformed it means that people across every domain are encountering Christ and His bigger Story. His bigger Story (the Gospel) is bringing restoration and redemption to all people and to every aspect of culture. Business people realize that they are being called into God’s bigger and better Story- blessing others through ethical business, providing income for families to have what they need, and offering necessary goods and services. They’re actually partnering with God and His greater kingdom agenda in Christ. Parents realize that their role is to raise children to love God so passionately that others are blessed. Politicians and government workers rise up to serve their God-given role to protect, bring justice, and bless the people by serving them. Educators join the great calling to teach and train up children as global citizens and servants of God. Those in media and entertainment seek to recapture the arts to the glory of God, expressing truth and beauty in all that they do. This is the church scattered. And like all previous reformations this one will come from the bottom up as God’s people decide to trust Him enough to live out the words of Jesus:
“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28
